Nicosia, Cyprus. Donations to a social support body increased almost ninefold after Nikos Christodoulides was elected president in early 2023, accountant-general Andreas Antoniades told a House institutions committee on Wednesday.
He provided figures for annual donations from 2020 through 2024 and said the body never received cash donations.
Donation figures presented to committee
Antoniades told the committee the body received €560,914 in donations in 2020, €368,091 in 2021, and €260,100 in 2022.
He said Christodoulides was elected in February 2023 and that his wife, Philippa Karsera Christodoulides, was subsequently appointed as chairwoman of the body.
Antoniades said donations then rose to €2,269,005 in 2023 and €2,176,196 in 2024.
Method of donations
Antoniades told the committee the body never received any cash donations and that all donations were made by transfers to the central bank.
Request for further information
After Antoniades’ intervention, committee chairman and Disy MP Demetris Demetriou said he still expected to receive an “informed response” to a written request he had sent to the treasury for further information about the body, adding that “not all aspects” of the issues he raised had been covered.
Antoniades said he had requested the opinion of the legal service regarding some of the matters raised in Demetriou’s letter and did not respond to all matters due to “the possibility and legality of disclosing information which may be relevant to the legislation on the protection of personal data”.
Background and recent developments
The social support body was established in 2014 and was placed under then first lady Andri Anastasiades, before being passed on to First Lady Philippa Karsera Christodoulides when her husband became president in 2023.
The body was initially set up to offer financial assistance to disadvantaged students, but a video published on January 8 alleged, among other things, that cash donations to the body were used to circumvent campaign finance laws and curry favour with the government.
Following the video’s publication, the incumbent first lady resigned from her role, and Christodoulides said on Monday he was minded to completely abolish the body.
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